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ÂBOUT NEAL

My journey in wine literally began on June 20, 1995 while en route from Paris to Bern, Switzerland. My wife and I had decided to make a pit stop in Beaune, France to celebrate our 10th anniversary before meeting with my client in Bern.

Unbeknownst to us, it was (and still is) the capital of the Burgundy wine region of France. When the owner of the pension where we were staying realized that we were celebrating, she presented us with a gift: two tickets to a Burgundy wine tasting for English speakers. Uncomfortable with the idea of rejecting such hospitality we, somewhat reluctantly, attended-although it meant delaying our onward journey til later. We ended up staying another three days, and stayed four more days on our way back from Bern. We were completely taken by the allure of the grape.

Since then, we have followed the aromas to Spain, Portugal, Tuscany, Sicily, Piedmont, Alsace, the Rhone, Provence, the Pfalz in Germany, Mendoza, Chile, Napa, Sonoma, Greece, the Finger Lakes, among others – all in a quest for the pleasure of the grape.

A number of years after our first trip, my wife decided to take a full chef’s program and I entered the Boston University Elizabeth Bishop School of Wine Studies where I finished with”merit.” I have since completed numerous other courses including The Burgundy Master Program with the French Wine Society and in June 2014, 19 years later, I will continue my studies of my favorite wine region, the place where it all began, Burgundy.

In my other life I have five grown children and do a lot of traveling with my wife for wine and fishing (another pastime that has taken me from Labrador, Canada to the Amazon jungle). I’m also quite handy in the kitchen.